Sensex ends below 21,100 mark; Q3 nos disappoint

Sensex ends below 21,100 mark; Q3 nos disappoint

Markets ended lower after the sharp correction in Tata Consultancy Services dampened sentiment in IT sector while financials which had firmed up on expectation that the RBI may continue to maintain status quo on key policy rates also witnessed profit taking.

The 30-share Sensex ended lower by 202 points at 21,064 and the 50-share Nifty fell 57 points at 6,262. The Sensex and Nifty touched an intra-day low of 20,016 mark and 6,246 levels, respectively.

Chetan Jain, Deputy Manager-Derivatives Desk, Anand Rathi, technical analyst and market expert says, “Nifty future has been trading in a very tight range since last few trading sessions with major move seen, it facing strong hurdle around 6350-6400 zone where maximum call OI is intact since the starting of the series whereas on downside 6200 & 6100 maximum put OI is suggesting strong support area for the markets.”

GLOBAL MARKETS

The dollar pushed higher on Friday and Asian stocks clawed their way off session lows, moving past downbeat results on Wall Street as some investors wagered that upcoming US data will paint an optimistic picture of the world's largest economy.

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, held its ground on the day, adding 0.1% at 80.949.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan managed to erase an earlier drop and tack on 0.2%, while Australian shares pared losses to end down 0.1%. Japan's Nikkei index ended off its session lows, down 0.1%.

The rupee is trading at 61.42 after touching 61.31, its highest since December 11 and below its close of 61.5350/5450 on Thursday.

Traders say good foreign bank selling of the greenback likely on behalf of clients looking to invest in the debt market is hurting the pair.

SECTORAL INDICES

On the sectoral front, BSE IT, TECk and Realty indices have plunged by 2% each followed by counters like Banks, Power, Consumer Durables and Metal, all falling down by 1% each. However, BSE Oil & Gas and FMCG indices ended marginally positive.

GAINERS & LOSERS

From the IT segment, Tata Consultancy Services ended lower by nearly 6% at Rs 2,213 after reporting 42bp quarter-on-quarter (qoq) declined in operating margin to 29.7% for the third quarter ended December 2013 (Q3).

However, the company has reported a better than expected 15% qoq growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 5,333 crore for the quarter mainly on account of forex gain of Rs 299c crore as against loss of Rs 377 crore in previous quarter.

Wipro declined by over 3% ahead of Q3 results today.

Coal India dipped over 10% to Rs 272 on the BSE after the stock turned ex-dividend today.

The board of directors of state-owned company at their meeting held on January 14, 2014 approved payment of interim dividend of Rs 29 per share for the financial year ending March 2014.

The board has set January 20 as the record date for the interim dividend.

Analysts at Credit Suisse downgraded its rating on the telecom sector to ‘underweight’, while cutting its 2014-15 earnings estimates for Bharti Airtel by 22% and for Idea Cellular by 27%, the Business Standard report suggests.

Ranbaxy Laboratories dipped over 2% extending its past four days fall after the pharmaceutical company’s manufacturing facility in Toansa, Punjab received a Form 483 warning from the US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA).

Bajaj Auto extended Thursday's gains triggered by company reporting record net profit in Q3 December 2013.

Reliance Inds will unveil Q3 results today. The stock ended flat.

Infosys ended marginally positive and touched its new high on the BSE today. Shares of Infosys, the country’s second-largest software services provider, rallied about 10% in past seven trading sessions compared to 2.2% rise in benchmark S&P BSE Sensex and 4.6% gain in S&P BSE IT index.

Shares of PSU OMCs gained as brent crude dropped as concerns over a rise in supply from Libya and Iran dragged on prices.

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) rose on reports a panel of ministers has approved sale of a 10% government stake in IOC to ONGC and OIL India through a block deal on the stock exchanges.

ONGC, OIL Indi and IOC gained between 1-2%.

Among other shares, MindTree slipped over 5% after reporting 31% quarter-on-quarter (qoq) declined in consolidated net profit at Rs 89 crore for the third quarter ended December 2013 (Q3) impacted by forex loss of Rs 27 crore as against gain of Rs 20 crore in September quarter.